Otherworldly Affairs Office

Clenching his fists, his eyes bloodshot, Pei Yan charged from the shore, leaping forward and delivering a fierce kick to the chest of the strange creature wanting to kill Wang Wenze, forcing it back. He turned around and shouted at Wang Wenze, who was kneeling on one knee in front of him, "Brother Wang, how are you! How did it become like this!"

Just now, just now, everyone was still fine. Although they didn't have much of an advantage, it was evenly matched. But in just a blink of an eye, how did everyone start to retreat! Wang Wenze's back and thighs had several deep claw marks, bone visible.

Since joining the Investigation Bureau, the person who took care of him the most was not Hu Wenjun or the various leaders, but this roommate with whom he lived day and night. Seeing his friend injured, Pei Yan was furious, his face flushed with rage.

"He got hurt saving me! There's something strange about those creatures!" Liang Qian, lying on the ground, her face covered in black gas and tears, cried out.

"Strange?" Pei Yan didn't have time to think, grabbing the attacking creature's claw with his backhand, sweeping it to the ice and pinning it down as he pursued, "What's the trouble?"

"They release black smoke when they die, the smoke invades the killer's body, eroding our internal source, attempting to control our will! I feel that if we inhale too much black smoke, and if our internal source is completely eroded, we will become like them!" a sweat-drenched Wang Wenze weakly responded.

Just moments ago, almost everyone was caught off-guard by the black smoke. Among them, Liang Qian and Shangxing, who killed the most enemies, inhaled the most smoke. Shangxing was strong enough to suppress it, but Liang Qian was knocked down immediately and could only barely resist the invasion by desperately mobilizing her internal source. It was then that Wang Wenze took on such heavy injuries to save her.

"Is this damn thing so powerful?" Pei Yan was stunned. The black smoke had no effect on him. Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind; could it be related to his different origin?

Thinking this, he lay on his side, releasing the creature and kicking it away. Then he shouted to the others, "Captain, everyone! I might have a way to deal with this black smoke! Can you hold them off for a while? Just two or three minutes!"

"Leave it to me! Illusion of Flowers!" Before Pei Yan finished speaking, Ye Jiumu was already blocking the three, spreading his hands. A photo in his hands grew more illusory and larger, then he casually tossed it toward the attacking three creatures. As the black light flashed, the three creatures collided with the photo and disappeared.

Pei Yan didn't have time to marvel at Ye Jiumu's ability. He quickly squatted in front of Wang and Liang, removed the mechanical transformation of his arms, then placed his origin on them and advised, "Don't resist, let my origin enter you and try to help!"

"Trust him!" Wang Wenze said in a deep voice as Liang Qian looked at him questioningly.

Liang Qian nodded in response. Her situation was serious, and relaxing control over her internal source could risk backlash from the black smoke. But Wang Wenze said to trust Pei Yan, so she was willing to try.

Pei Yan closed his eyes, channeling his origin into them continuously. Just as he thought, his origin quickly devoured the black smoke, not stopping at Liang and Wang's internal sources either, relentlessly consuming and assimilating them.

But for Liang Qian, it didn't matter anymore. Seeing the black smoke continuously disappear, both Liang Qian and Wang Wenze gradually calmed down.

Wang Wenze felt his chest, noticing no trace of black smoke inside, and looked at Pei Yan with concern, "This way of devouring the black smoke doesn't affect you?"

Pei Yan shook his head, sensing his origin grow somewhat and smiled, "No issue, it's like a supplement to me!"

"Go help the captain clear the smoke, leave this to me!" Regaining her freedom, Liang Qian stood up and walked forward with long strides.

Wang Wenze attempted to push himself up but Liang Qian pressed his shoulder down, "I said leave it to me."

Then, Liang Qian shouted sharply, "Jiumu!"

"Got it! Over there!" Ye Jiumu replied without looking.

"Left shore! TNT!"

Saying this, Liang Qian extended her palm flat, allowing a pale yellow internal source to fly from her fingertips toward the left shore. Upon contact with the soil, the source quickly fused with it, turning ordinary dirt into heaps of pale yellow granules.

As she prepared, a large photo appeared above the soil and three creatures fell onto it, landing on the mass of granules. Before they could respond, Liang Qian clenched her hand, the yellow source turned blue, squeezing the wrapped granules.

Boom! Despite the deafening explosions behind him, Pei Yan decided to be a true man and never look back at an explosion. He dashed across the ice to Shangxing, heavily infiltrated by the smoke, and whispered, "Captain, let me help clear the smoke!"

"No need, I can hold it. You should help Xiaoxia and Xiaozhao, they've inhaled quite a bit!" Shangxing, his gorilla-like face darkened by smoke, gritted his teeth.

Knowing now wasn't the time to argue, Pei Yan nodded, moving to Xiaxia and Zhao Yuanhu, repeating the process of cleansing them of black smoke.

Like a firefighter, Pei Yan cleared smoke from one, moved to another, eventually returning to help Ye Jiumu and Liang Qian who had been too intense and killed two more creatures.

From afar in the Daoist Plane, the black-robed Li Songtao watched Pei Yan weave through the crowd, frowning slightly. This Devouring Demon researched by the Sect Leader and the so-called researchers, he knew their capability well. Though he scoffed at the monsters' combat ability, he admitted their unrivaled advantage as basic forces.

Forcefully refining ordinary people unable to practice arts to enhance their physique, while they couldn't use Daoist arts, they possessed strong bodies, allowing them to engrave the defensive arrays ordinary cultivators practiced with spirit stone dye directly onto the creatures' bodies. Other cultivators might abandon due to constant pain from spiritual power erosion, but for them, it's no issue since they feel no pain. No, maybe they could feel it, but what did that matter to him? They were useless people who couldn't cultivate anyway.